Universal Studios

Tuesday - We went to the other half of the theme park today known simply as Universal Studios. It opened at 9am and we arrived shortly after and there was a long line to get in. Their system is less efficient than Disney World. 

The first ride was a Minion shooting thing. We then wandered through the different “cities” or areas and into the Harry Potter area known as Diagon Alley. The only ride was Escape From Gringots. 

Like many other rides in Universal, it is not recommended if you get motion sick. So we just went through the queue. It was pretty impressive including a weird lift. We exited right before getting on the ride vehicle. 

After exiting Diagon Alley, we were in Simpson land. Home of the huge pink donut and Duff beer. 

We wandered around the “cities” and watched several shows, looked into shops. We looked into a couple of other rides but they were all 3D and screen based so motion sick inducing. 

We had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron and had a shared cheese and salad board. I also tried the hot butter beer (sweet, hot, butterscotch flavored drink) and later had the strawberry-peanut butter ice cream with chocolate sauce. It’s a good combo. Better than it sounds. 

After ice cream, we wandered around some more, went on the E.T. ride and called it around 4pm or so. We enjoyed this park more than the Islands of Adventure as its roomier, more shows, and its less about the roller coasters. 

One odd thing I did was visiting the money exchange and picking up some Gringott’s currency. No fee for the exchange and I picked up a free souvenir. The sleeve the money came in. I used it to purchase my dessert. A strawberry-peanut butter sundae from Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlour with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and shortbread crumbles. The odd combination was very tasty. And my change was in USD. 

It was ~80°F today but the breeze made it very pleasant…